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For years, the Council has heard reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers are turning away asylum seekers who lawfully present themselves at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border. In December 2016, the Council filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with CBP and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to better understand the practices and procedures used by CBP at these ports of entry with respect to the treatment of asylum seekers.

In the year and a half since the FOIA request was filed, CBP largely failed to provide any records in response to the request. On June 11, 2018, the Council, represented by O’Melveny & Myers LLP, filed a lawsuit to compel DHS and CBP to comply with FOIA and to release additional records related to the 2016 request.